USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > A brief history of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, with an accompanying map; > Part 11
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185
GREENLANE TO PALM
beyond East Greenville, lies near the boundary line between Mont- gomery and Berks counties. Several miles southwest from Palm is located Bally, one of the oldest Catholic parishes in the United States, part of the present buildings dating back to 1743.
Gwynedd Route-Gwynedd, Kulpsville, Hatfield, Souderton, Telford. Gwynedd Friends' Meeting House was the third place of worship established in the county-
to Telford Lower Merion and Abington alone being earlier. The meeting house was used as a hospital during the Revolutionary War and soldiers were buried in the adjoining cemetery. The place was known as Acuff's Tavern. A post office was established here, 1830. Below North Wales a cemetery marks the location of a former place of worship, St. Peter's, a union of Reformed and Lutheran Churches. North Wales is a comparatively young com- munity, the railroad completed 1856 having helped to start and develop it.
A short distance beyond the Wissahickon bridge the old Allen- town road branches off to the right .. At the fork a hotel was doing business as early as 1779. Two miles west is the southwest cor- ner of Towamencin township. Here, at the home of Christopher Wiegner, were the first American headquarters of the Moravian Church; here Spangenberg lived, Zinzendorf and Whitefield preached, and the Associated Brethren of the Skippack held re- ligious gatherings. Close by, the Schwenkfelders opened a school in 1765, for which they had created an endowment fund. The Revolutionary army encamped in this vicinity. Kulpsville and the Mennonite Meeting House and cemetery, where General Nash and other Revolutionary soldiers are buried, lie a few miles to the north.
Along the Allentown road, a few miles beyond the aforemen- tioned forks, there were in 1849 White's Inn and post office, while Lansdale with its urban air and dress, situated a mile to the east, was not even dreamed of. We are in Hatfield township, which probably was the highwater mark for incursions by foraging par- ties of Lord Howe while wintering in Philadelphia, 1777-78. The township does not abound in noteworthy historic landmarks as some other townships, nor does it have historic churches because the early residents , some of whom were Welsh, worshipped in churches outside the township limits. The district seems to have been shunned by pioneers because the soil was regarded sterile. On account of slowness of settlement Indians probably remained
186
HISTORY HIKES
here longer than in some other communities, a few lingering in the neighborhood of the borough of Hatfield as late as the Revolution- ary War.
Franconia Square and Franconiaville, old settlements of ar- rested growth, have been far outstripped by the youthful boroughs along the railroad. Souderton in 1849 was marked on the map, Souder's Lumberyard. The nearest post office, Bilger's, was west of the cowpath road on the road leading from Franconia Square to Telford on the county line which has been making history well- nigh two-hundred years. The name cowpath road harks back to the day when the cattle of the Welsh pioneers wandered through the forests to pasture land. The oldest churches of the community are the Franconia Mennonite that erected its first meeting house between 1730 and 1750, the Indianfield Lutheran that erected a log place of worship about 1730 and the Reformed Church on Indian creek, founded 1753. These are within easy walking dis- tance of Souderton, where this hike must end.
FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE, PLYMOUTH Destroyed by fire 1867, rebuilt
To Route-Norristown, Hickorytown, Plymouth Meet- ing, Conshohocken. We proceed by trolley to save Barren Hill time and strength. Hickorytown on the Germantown pike organized a company for protection against horse-stealing, 1807, and was one of the training places for the
187
TO BARREN HILL
State militia and battalion drills. Plymouth Meeting was estab- lished as early as 1691, although a prior settlement had been made and abandoned. Here wounded soldiers were quartered; teachers, wielding rods and goose-quill pens, taught the young in the oc- tagonal schoolhouse with desks ranged along the walls; horse blocks for lady worshippers graced the yard. Here Hovenden painted "Breaking the Home Ties." Yonder are graves two cen- turies old.
At Marble Hall less than two miles away, old Patrick Menan taught school many years ago. The Hitners of this place in 1851 donated to Pennsylvania a block of pure white marble on which the State coat of arms and Penn's treaty with the Indians were then carved; two thousand people met to view the finishing carving and listen to an address by the Governor of the State, after which it was forwarded to Washington and embodied in the Washington monument as the contribution of the Keystone State.
HOVENDEN STUDIO
We proceed by trolley to Conshohocken, a borough since 1850, that dates its large manufacturing interests from 1830 when David Harry built his grist mill. Two years later James Wood built his rolling mill. Here was the Matson Ford of early days, where part of Washington's army crossed, September, 1777. Stationed
188
HISTORY HIKES
on yonder hills beyond the fine new memorial bridge, British troops checked the Continentals, December, 1777, and General Poor's bat- tery in turn checked the British following the fleeing Lafayette, May, 1778.
Our next objective point is Spring Mill, where Peter Legaux, the noted Frenchman, experimented in grape culture. Hither farmers brought wheat to pay quit-rents, to the mill dating from 1715, whose power was derived from the stream of water flowing from bubbling springs a fourth of a mile away.
HOPE LODGE, WHITEMARSH
Two miles eastward lies Barren Hill, rich in historic events. Here a parochial school was opened, 1758, and a church building erected, 1761-65. Here British and Continental troops encamped, alternately. The people who worshipped here were robbed. of horses, cows, sheep, and hogs by Howe's marauders. Here Lafayette, under twenty-one, was stationed, May, 1778, with 2100 troops.
189
TO BARREN HILL
The British, 7000 strong, almost encircled and entrapped him and his men, but they slipped away and made their escape past Spring Mill and Matson Ford to the hills west of the Schuylkill. The valiant seven thousand returned to Philadelphia, in the words of Lafayette, "very tired, very much ashamed and very much laughed at."
HOPE LODGE, WHITEMARSH, INSIDE VIEW
Wheelpump Spring- Route-Erdenheim, Flourtown, Fort Washington, Ambler, Springhouse. Erdenheim, the junction house point of two trolley systems, a post office named after a noted stockfarm, was formerly known as Heydrickdale on account of families living here, also as Wheel- pump on account of the pump used at the old tavern, the Wash- ington Hotel. Springfield township, with its former unique Schuyl-
190
HISTORY HIKES
kill river panhandle, was laid out for Penn's first wife and con- sequently not transferred to private owners as early as other townships. Flourtown, where the ancient and modern houses are next-door neighbors was so named because pioneers came to the mills on the Wissahickon close by for their flour.
The village Whitemarsh and vicinity are noteworthy historic ground. Its lime has enjoyed a national reputation many de- cades. Here the Farmars and Sculls, pioneer families, lived. Here Indian councils were held. Here is Hope Lodge, built 1721, with its marvelous interior and charming story. Here is St. Thomas Church served by the rector of the Oxford Church, for whose con- venience the church road is said to have been laid out. Here Whitefield preached to an audience of more than two thousand in 1740. Here the Morris brothers founded a school in pre-Revolution-
FRIENDS' MEETINGHOUSE, HORSHAM
ary days for whose maintenance a fund was created that is still intact. Here on the surrounding hills Continental troops were en- camped, with Washington's headquarters at the Emlen house, from October 20 to December 11, 1777, when they broke camp for Valley Forge.
191
WHEELPUMP, SPRINGHOUSE
Beyond Fort Washington we pass from Whitemarsh into Upper Dublin township, once a part of Abington township. Non- resident ownership checked settlement originally at the northwest- ern end, although lime-burning was carried on at Fitzwatertown before 1705.
Ambler, flourishing in the western corner of the township, de- veloped since the opening of the railroad in 1856, could muster only 251 inhabitants as late as 1880. In early days the Wissa- hickon mills here did a thriving business. The trolley line that left the old turnpike to zigzag through the borough, turns east- ward on the old Butler pike to resume its northward course on the old Gwynedd road to Springhouse and beyond.
To Graeme Park
Route-Springhouse, Maple Glen, Horsham, Graeme Park. Springhouse is historic. After viewing the traffic and the teeming towns along the old high- way it is hard to realize that once a rude stone
house by a well had to serve as a landmark to the lone traveler in the untamed forests. One sees in imagination cara- vans of Conestogas passing and repassing between the county's metropolis, Philadelphia, and the Lehigh Valley and points beyond ; another stream crossing and recrossing between Chester Valley and the west and the Delaware river and the east; while staid Friends come and go to visit relatives and meet for divine wor- ship. Arrested growth has been the fate of the place.
To the northwest lies Gwynedd Meeting House with its sacred memories; to the southwest, Penllyn on the North Penn Railroad, close by the place where the pioneer, Edward Foulke, located; northward runs the old Bethlehem road, in use two centuries. One mile out we reach Montgomery township, whose name in use here two hundred years, recalls Roger de Montgomery of the eleventh century. Montgomery Square, with its incorporated library, was the birthplace of Sam Medary, of Ohio, and of our W. S. Hancock. Beyond are Montgomeryville, a historic Baptist Church, and Col- mar on the Doylestown Railroad near which a famous school, founded by the bequests of John Jenkins, flourished many years. To the east runs the old Welsh road, passing from Lower Gwynedd into Upper Dublin and then into Horsham township. At Three Tuns, probably named from its hotel sign, a road to the right leads to Puff's corner, on Susquehanna street, made historic by the
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HISTORY HIKES
Lutheran Church, dating back to 1753. At Maple Glen the White- hall pike, midway between the Easton and Bethlehem roads, is
SIR WILLIAM KEITH Governor (1717-1726)
passed, leading northward into Bucks county, southward to Phila- delphia through Jarrettown, Dreshertown, Fitzwatertown, all re- minders of early families.
Two miles beyond Maple Glen the historic road from Horsham Meeting House to Hatfield township is reached. A mile to the southeast is the Horsham Friends' Meeting House, an old land- mark, on the historic Easton road, connecting Easton by way of Doylestown and Philadelphia by way of Willow Grove. Settlement in the vicinity of the meeting house was made by the Palmers, 1683, and by Ircdells and Lukenses about 1709 or 1710. The first house of worship was built 1718-1721; the present, 1803. A school, insti- tuted here 1753, was conducted continuously and successfully until 1922.
Two miles north the county line cuts the road. Graeme Park lies less than a mile to the northwest along the borders of the county. Here Sir William Keith, Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsyl- vania, built a substantial dwelling house, 1722, known as Graeme Park, on a twelve-hundred acre tract acquired a few years pre- viously. Dr. Thomas Graeme, a distinguished Philadelphia physi- cian, whose wife was the daughter of the wife of Sir William
193
TO GRAEME PARK
Keith, acquired the property. His daughter, Elizabeth, married Hugh Henry Ferguson, a Scotchman, 1759, who sided with the British in the Revolutionary War and was attainted of treason.
GRAEME PARK, BUILT BY SIR WILLIAM KEITH, 1721
The property was by special legislative act vested in the wife who had remained loyal, but had quite a checkered career.
Old York Route-LaMott, Ogontz, Jenkintown, Abington, Wil- low Grove, Hatboro. Old York road, the early route from Philadelphia to New York, one of the historic Road and important highways of Pennsylvania, passes through three townships and two boroughs. The first point of in- terest beyond city limits is a settlement of modest dwellings on the west side of York road, LaMott, named for Lucretia Mott, whose home was near by. This is in Cheltenham township, a name probably given by Toby Leech, an early settler, who erected a mill on the Tacony in the neighborhood of Ogontz, known in earlier days as Shoemakertown, named for the Shoemaker family, who owned the millsite where the road crosses the Tacony. The
194
HISTORY HIKES
first mill at this place, known as a "corn-grist water-mill," was erected, 1746. Near the crossing of church road which passes through Ogontz, and Washington lane, was the home of Jay Cooke,
LIBRARY BUILDING, HATBORO
the noted financier. The home of the late John Wanamaker is also to the left at the southern borders of Jenkintown.
This place was named for William Jenkins, the pioneer settler of the region. East of the borough is the Abington Friends' Meet- ing House, the ground for which was included in a tract of 180 acres, deeded, 1697, to the Friends' Meeting for religious and edu- cational purposes. Later a school was established, which is still being conducted. Jenkintown is also the home of the Abington library, founded 1803, and is noted for its educational institutions.
Abington township, one of the original townships, out of which Jenkintown was carved, is crossed near the middle by the York road. The village of Abington, an old settlement once known as Moorestown, is the place of worship of the Abington Presbyterian Church, founded 1714. In the cemetery by the roadside are the graves of Malachi Jones, the first pastor of the church, of Gilbert Tennent, of Samuel Finley, the fifth president of Princeton college, and other noted men of early days.
195
OLD YORK ROAD
Willow Grove, at the south corner of Upper Moreland, is the next point of interest. Here since pioneer days important streams of traffic have been meeting and diverging. Here, more than one hundred and fifty years ago, a hotel having accommodations for nearly a hundred horses and claiming to be the best hotel stand between Philadelphia and the Delaware river, was offered for sale. Here in the heyday of staging five stage lines passed daily. Here men came to get their mail at the post office in 1816. Here in the drug store building a shot tower was once in successful operation.
East of Willow Grove, in the region of the historic Pennypack, are Bethayres, Huntingdon Valley, and Bryn Athyn.
Two miles beyond Willow Grove is Hatboro, once known from the hotel sign as Crooked Billet. When John Dawson, the hatter, the first settler, built his house, his daughter, Anne, carried mortar in a tow apron. When Anne was married father took her to church on horseback and the husband took her to her new home the same way. Hatboro has the oldest library in the county. Robert Collyer, who closed his life career as pastor of the wealthiest con- gregation in the United States, in his younger days served as local preacher of the Methodist church at Milestown, worked at the Hammond tool works in Cheltenham township and walked to Hat- boro to make use of the library. Loller Academy, founded by Rob- ert Loller and erected 1812, is used for public school purposes. During the Revolutionary War, General Lacey was stationed here to protect the interests of the colonists. The British tried to capture him, May 1, 1778. In the skirmish thirty of his men were killed and seventeen wounded. A monument recalls the event.
STRAW AND HICKORY BASKETS, MUSEUM OF THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
CHAPTER XI
NOTES ON NAMES
NOTE :- The following brief notes are inserted to encourage a study of the history of names. It must not be overlooked that some local names were selected or newly coined to meet postal requirements that names of postoffices are to be short, single, easy to pronounce, and unlike other names. The Smithsonian In- stitution supplied interpretations of Indian names which are marked S and en- closed in parentheses.
ABINGTON-parish in England; early names of, Milltown, Hill- top, Shepherd's.
ABRAMS-family name, Abraham.
AMBLER-named in honor of Mary J. Ambler, a widow, for services rendered in connection with a very serious railroad accident, 1856; early name of, Wissahickon.
AMITYVILLE-early name for Lucon.
ARCOLA-a small Italian town in Northern Italy; early name of, Doe Run.
ARDMORE-an Irish name, the high moor or tract of wild ground.
ASHBOURNE-a place in England; early name of, Bountytown. ATHENSVILLE-early name for Bryn Mawr or Ardmore.
AUDUBON-named for John J. Audubon, the naturalist; early name of, Shannonville.
BALA-Welsh, place in Wales, meaning a shoot or budding.
BALLYGOMINGO (Balligo)-early name of Gulph.
BARREN HILL-probably on account of narrow ridge of barren soil near church.
BELFRY-perhaps on account of the belfry of St. John's Evan- gelical Lutheran Church, a few hundred yards below.
BETHAYRES-"On the completion of the railroad to New York in 1876, the station was called Bethayres, a contraction of Elizabeth Ayres, who was born here, and the mother of one of the directors of the improvement."-W. J. Buck.
BIRD-IN-HAND-early name for Gulph Mills, from hotel sign. BLUEBELL-probably on account of the hotel sign.
BRIDGEPORT-probably on account of the DeKalb Street bridge. BRYN ATHYN-Welsh, from Bryn, hill or mount; Athyn, very tenacious, cohesive, or Eithan, name of plant.
BRYN MAWR-Welsh, Great Hill.
CAMP HILL-used as camping ground in Revolutionary War.
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NOTES ON NAMES
CHELTENHAM-parish and borough in England, home of Toby Leech, an early settler.
CONESTOGA-an Indian name meaning the great magic land. (At the place of the muddy or oily water-S.)
CONGO-early name of, Cedarville; chosen because it is easy to spell and pronounce.
CONSHOHOCKEN-an Indian name meaning pleasant valley, known as Edge Hill. (At the briar land or land overgrown with briars-S.)
CROOKED HILL-so named on account of the peculiar formation of the hills, early name for Sanatoga.
CUSTER-a family name.
CYNWYD-Welsh, meaning evil, destructive.
DOUGLASS-a town and river in Scotland.
DRESHERTOWN-family name.
EAGLEVILLE-"A large eagle was shot in the vicinity and nailed to one of the buildings. From this incident the village received its name." (T. W. Bean.)
EAST GREENVILLE-named Greenville on account of a tree at the upper end of the borough; named East Greenville to distinguish from Greenville in Western Pennsylvania.
ELM-early name of Narberth.
EDGE HILL-structure of rock or edge of limestone section.
EVANSBURG-family name, Edward Evans first postmaster, 1825.
FAGLEYSVILLE-probably a family name.
FLOURTOWN-tradition says that the early settlers came here to mill with their grain from whence the name originated. FRANCONIA-an old duchy of the Germanic Empire.
FREDERICK-Frederick William, King of Prussia.
FREELAND-early name for Collegeville.
GLADWYNE-early name of, Merion Square.
GLASGOW-place in Scotland.
GILBERT, Manor of-early name for Providence in honor of Wil- liam Penn's mother.
GILBERTSVILLE-family name.
GOSHENHOPPEN-(the wonderful tuber or tubers-S).
GREENLANE-on account of the foliage of the trees growing along the road in the vicinity.
GULPH-probably so named because surrounded by hills.
GWYNEDD-Welsh, meaning the white land.
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NOTES ON NAMES
HARLEYSVILLE-named for Samuel Harley, who built a tavern here 1790, marking the beginning of the village.
HATBORO-place where hats are made.
HATFIELD-either an early family name or a town and parish in England.
HAVERFORD-Welsh, meaning goat's ford.
HENDRICKS-probably a family name.
HEYDRICKDALE-family name; locality in Springfield, south of Flourtown.
HILL-an early name for Abington, on account of Philip Hill, an early landholder.
HOFFMANSVILLE-a family name.
HOPPENVILLE-(seemingly a hybrid word, meaning "tuber" ville-S).
HORSHAM-parish and borough in England, home of Samuel Carpenter, an early extensive landholder.
HOSENSACK-(small clay pots-S).
HUMPHREYVILLE-early name of Bryn Mawr and vicinity for David Humphrey an early settler.
JARRETTOWN-a family name.
JEFFERSONVILLE-from hotel sign, a portrait of Thomas Jefferson.
JENKINTOWN-named for Stephen Jenkins, an early settler. KING-OF-PRUSSIA-from sign of hotel kept here 1736.
KLINESVILLE-a family name.
KNEEDLER-named for Henry Kneedler, who owned property there.
KRATZ-family name.
KULPSVILLE-family name.
LANCASTERVILLE-family name; early name of, Wrangletown on account of disputes.
LEDERACHSVILLE-named for Henry Lederach, who built the first house here, 1825.
LIMERICK-city and county in Ireland.
LIBERTYVILLE-an early name for Wynnwood.
LINFIELD-early name of, Limerick.
LOCUST CORNER-Crossroad on Morris Road between Towa- mencin and Upper Gwynedd.
LUCON-specially coined word.
LUMBERVILLE-early name for Port Providence.
MACOBY- (large turbid or reddish water-S).
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NOTES ON NAMES
MANATAWNY-Indian, meaning where we drank. (Ill-smelling village-S.)
MANAYUNK-Indian, meaning where we go to drink. (At the worthless place-S.) .
MARLBOROUGH-named for the Duke of Marlborough.
MAXATAWNY-Indian, meaning bear's path stream.
(Bear's
foot village or stream-S.)
McLEANS-family name.
MELROSE-a town in Scotland.
MERION-Welsh, Merioneth in Wales.
METHACTON-Indian name of hill in Lower Providence (?) (at the evil hill or mountain-S).
MINGO-an Indian term meaning stealthy or treacherous. (A gross name given by the Delaware and cognate tribes to Iroquoian people, and specifically to the Conestoga-S.)
MONTGOMERY-the township Montgomery settled by immi- grants from Montgomeryshire, Wales, was named for Roger de Montgomery, a Norman knight, whose castle, built 1095, was destroyed by the Welsh; the county Montgomery was named either for the above reason or in honor of General Richard Montgomery who fell in the Revolutionary War- possibly the two members of the Penna. Assembly by this name fostered the idea.
MORELAND-nemed for Nicholas Moore, a prominent early officeholder and the proprietor of the Manor of Moreland which included Moreland Township, and part of Philadel- phia county.
MOORETOWN-early name of Village of Abington from name of keeper of tavern, Mary Moore.
MORWOOD-early name of, Gehman; from Mor for Levi P. Morton and wood, woods surrounding the place.
MOUNT KIRK-hill on which Lower Providence Presbyterian Church is located.
NIANTIC-Indian, meaning at a point of land on a tidal river. (Angle or point of water-S.)
NARBERTH-Na-berth, not beautiful. (?) NEIFFER-family name.
NESHAMINY-an Indian name, meaning a double stream. (A double stream or a confluence of two streams-S.)
OAKS-probably on account of trees.
OBELISK-early name of, Roseville; name suggested by picture on box of paper collars.
200
NOTES ON NAMES
OGONTZ-name of an Indian chief, who was a friend of Jay Cooke in his childhood.
OLETHEHO-an Indian name for the land at the mouth of the Perkiomen.
PAWLING-family name.
PENCOYD-Welsh, Pennychlawd, the place from which John Roberts, ancestor of the Roberts family, migrated.
PENLLYN-Welsh, meaning the beginning of a stream.
PENNYPACK-Indian, meaning deep, dead water. (Fallen rock or cross-lake-S.)
PERKIOMEN-an Indian name meaning cranberry place. (Place of cranberries, cranberries-S.)
PIGEONTOWN-an early name for Blue Bell.
PLYMOUTH-a place in England.
PORT KENNEDY-named for the founder of the place, Alex- ander Kennedy (1761-1824).
POTTSGROVE-family name.
POTTSTOWN-named for John Potts, the founder.
PROSPECTVILLE-so named on account of the fine, natural scenery.
PROVIDENCE-so named either on account of Providence, Rhode Island, or Providence Island, of the West Indies from which early settlers came.
RED HILL-so named on account of the nature of the soil.
REESVILLE-early name for King-of-Prussia.
ROCKLEDGE-probably so named on account of the ledges of rock which affected early efforts at well digging; early name of Shady Dale.
reyville.
ROSEMONT-Welsh, meaning Great Hill-early name of, Humph- reyville.
RYDAL-place in England.
SALFORD-name of town and parishes in England.
SANATOGA-an Indian name.
SASSAMANSVILLE-family name.
SCHWENKSVILLE-family name.
SCHUYLKILL-Dutch, meaning concealed river, called by the Delaware Indians Ganshowehanna, the roaring stream. SCIOTA-an Indian name.
SHAINLINE-family name.
SHANNONVILLE-named for Robert Shannon, the early name for Audubon.
201
NOTES ON NAMES
(Arti-
SKIPPACK-an Indian name meaning stagnant stream. choke-S.)
SORREL HORSE-from hotel sign.
SOUDERTON-family name.
SPANGTOWN-early name for Engleville.
SPRINGHOUSE-a house built over a spring.
SUMNEYTOWN-named for Isaac Sumney, an early landholder, and innkeeper.
STOWE-name of early landholder in vicinity.
SWAMP-early name for village and surrounding country, New Hanover.
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